Football: Jones Senior drops opener

Saturday

TRENTON – For the fifth year in a row, Jones Senior opened its football season with a non-conference game against perennial 2A heavyweight Kinston.

TRENTON – For the fifth year in a row, Jones Senior opened its football season with a non-conference game against perennial 2A heavyweight Kinston.

Unfortunately for the Trojans, following the Vikings’ 41-21 victory Friday night in Trenton, Jones Senior’s record now stands at 0-5 in those openers.

After both teams traded fumbles on their first snaps of the season, Kinston (1-0) settled down and scored on six of its next eight offensive possessions and added a 34-yard fumble recovery for a touchdown by Tiquan Canady for good measure. By the time the scoring finally stopped, the Vikings had staked a 41-13 halftime lead.

“Sometimes when you lose the ol’ mo, it’s hard to swing it back in your direction,” Trojans coach John Davis said, referring to a shift in momentum that occurred in the first quarter when his team recovered a fumble on the Vikings’ first play from scrimmage only to give it right back to Kinston on the next play.

Despite his team’s first-half woes, Davis said he was happy with the way Jones Senior responded after halftime.

“I felt we finished pretty strong,” he said. “We played up with Kinston, and they’re a high quality program. We had a never-say-die attitude, and we fought to the bitter end. When you do that, you gain somebody’s respect.”

While Canady led the charge with three scores for Kinston, he wasn’t the only Viking making big plays. Tavon Herns added 64 yards and a touchdown, while Raheem Freeland rushed for 41 yards and a score. Anthony Berry rounded out the scoring for Kinston with a nine-yard touchdown reception from quarterback Raquise Bellamy, as the Vikings did all of their scoring in the first half.

Kinston out-gained the Trojans 258-81 in a game that was significantly shortened when the coaches and officials decided to run the clock continuously in the second half in an attempt to complete the game before a band of storms came through.

The Trojans (0-1) scored twice in the first half, taking advantage of a pair of Kinston fumbles and six Vikings’ penalties for 70 yards. At the end of the night, Kinston gave up nearly as many yards in penalties (80) as they did to the Trojans’ offense (81).

“We’ve come down here the last couple of years and turned the ball over a lot more than we have wanted to,” first-year Kinston coach Ryan Gieselman said. “Our defense was pretty good, though. It’s my cup of tea, and we take a lot of pride in it.”

Only three Trojans players rushed for positive yardage, led by Javon Andrews with 16 yards on six carries and Warren Fields with 13 yards on six carries. Demetrius Williams had four catches for 31 yards for the Trojans, including a 10-yard pass from Glen White in the second quarter. White also picked up a Vikings fumble and returned it 48 yards for a score in the second quarter.

Jones Senior notched the only score of the second half on a 15-yard pass from White to Andrews, but it was too little, too late for the Trojans.

Kinston hosts Nash Central next Friday while Jones Senior will travel to Jacksonville.

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